Chapter 42 The Contractor

"You have a big appetite! Doesn't this mean that you are giving up all the troops and cities of the Temple of Light at once?" I really didn't realize that Al Ni was still a careerist!

"I have to pay such a high price to defend the city for you, and you still call me a black heart! The Dragon Clan helped you to save your life, and you yourself defended the city. But I have nothing. Wouldn't it be a big loss if I didn't occupy a few cities? "

"I just said it casually, don't take it seriously!" Ah Ni's face didn't look good. I didn't dare to offend her again!

The Dragon King could see that the atmosphere was a little tense, so he quickly came out to smooth things over. "That's it. Our dragon clan and the Dark Legion will jointly defend the city. After the war begins, we will attack the city where the Temple of Light belongs."

"I guess since I'm going to run anyway, why not have a good time?" I thought of a darker method.

"Tell me about it!" The Dragon King is very enthusiastic now. Any plan may determine the life or death of the Dragon Clan.

"I have seen the attack of the Temple of Light, and I was also present at the Lost Battle. Do you think we can think of something on the other side's way?"

"what do you mean?"

"The troops of the Temple of Light have a special way of attacking the city. When they attacked last time, they used a large number of air cavalry to carry teleportation mages to penetrate the defense at high speed, and then set up a teleportation array near the city and let the troops rush out. This tactic can greatly shorten the time for the troops to attack us. The time that square artillery fire stays within the coverage area can relatively reduce casualties significantly. However, if we can inflict heavy damage on the air cavalry carrying mages when they break through, so that the number of mages will be greatly reduced, then the time for the troops to appear will It will become very long, and we have more time to carry out artillery battle! If the attack effect is good enough, we can even force them to give up teleportation and run over directly."

Ah Ni shook his head and said: "No, no, no! Don't do this!"

"Is my method bad?"

"It's not bad, it's good! Forcing them to attack on foot can indeed increase casualties, but the effect is not very good!"

"What do you think?"

"Carry out a low-intensity attack first and still let the Temple of Light use teleportation, but wait until one-third of their troops have reached one-third to destroy the teleportation mage system. If it cannot be completely destroyed, at least most of the teleportation arrays will be disabled. The troops of the Temple of Light will be destroyed One-third is stuck here, so that is our best opportunity to attack. By the time the remaining troops rush over, this one-third will have lost its combat effectiveness, right?"

"Yeah! What a good idea!" The Dragon King would now nod and say what a good idea it was!

"By the way, His Highness the Dragon King!" I suddenly remembered that Lucky said that the Dragon King's guards had gone back to move something. I don't know what it was!

"What's up?"

"I heard from Lucky that you sent people back to Dragon Island to move things. I wonder what they are?"

"Oh! That's the dragon clan's special weapon, the thunder cannon!"

Ah Ni obviously knew about this thing. He was immediately surprised when he heard the name: "Isn't that the Dragon Clan's treasure of the island? Why was it moved out?"

The Dragon King shook his head and said: "It's not that one. This time it's a small one. We made it ourselves. This is a life-and-death moment for the dragon clan. If we don't take out the good things, how can we keep them for burial?"

Although I don’t know what that laser cannon is, it sounds very powerful! "His Royal Highness the Dragon King really spent a lot of money, even taking out the things at the bottom of the box! Isn't Goddess Ah Ni also interested?" It's great to be able to blackmail someone at a time like this!

Ah Ni may have thought that the things the Dragon Clan came up with were very good, but the Dark Temple, which was famous for manufacturing magic equipment, didn't have decent equipment, so it was embarrassing, and she could only see her secretly biting her silver teeth. "I have good things, but you have to pay for them. I can't do business at a loss!"

The Dragon King doesn't care about anything for the survival of the Dragon Clan. Before I could say anything, he said, "I'll pay, how much?"

Ah Ni didn’t expect the Dragon King to agree so quickly! "One billion units, I only have 5 units in total, and I can sell you 4 units at most. I always have to keep a sample!"

"It's only 4 billion! I'm shocked!" The Dragon King has a lot of money anyway, so he doesn't trust this little money at all. "You ask people to move here! I'll give you money later! You don't believe in the credibility of the Dragon Clan, do you?"

"Of course I believe it! The Dragon Clan is still famous for its financial resources!"

"Okay, that's all the power we can gather. Have you all understood your respective tasks? Now let's start taking action?"

"Okay! I'll go back and assemble the troops right now!" Al Ni did things very simply!

"I'm going to declare a challenge to the Temple of Light!" The Dragon King also turned around and ran out.

After leaving the Spirit Gathering Tower, both parties left to do their own things. Now it's time for me to get busy! Essinger is in urgent need of a large number of cleaners, and manpower is also needed for city construction. According to the introduction of the Dragon King, I should find dwarves and elemental people to help me organize the city. Although Essinger has risen, to put it bluntly, he is just a A huge ruin! After the elementals clear the buildings, they should find the dwarves to rebuild the city! Wait for the Dwarf Gem! "Ah! Your Highness the Dragon King! Don't leave! You haven't given me the gems you promised yet!"

I danced and chased out of the main hall of the Juling Pagoda, but the speed of the Dragon Clan was so incredible, and now the Dragon King had flown so fast that his shadow was gone! My gem! What should I do now? Do I have to spend my own money to buy gems and bribe the dwarves?

"Master, what should I do with these things?" Ling came from the side and called me.

I turned around and saw Lucky, Plague, and Crystal standing in a row, Ling standing in front of them waiting for my orders. "Something? What?"

Plague and Luck took a step to both sides, revealing the hill behind them. A mountain of red gemstones was piled behind them. A pile of rubies nearly three meters high shone so brightly that my eyes were dazzled. Got it! "Haha! Mr. Dragon King really does what he says, and he is actually ready!"

I ran under the Gemstone Mountain and felt almost suffocated when I looked at the pile of gems. I don’t know what properties these gems have. What if I left some for my brothers and sisters in the guild to inlay! I picked it up casually and almost fainted when I saw it. "Name: Dwarf's Yearning; Level: Quest Item (not tradeable); Function: Increases the dwarf's favorability towards the user!" Completely fainted! I thought I could use it to upgrade equipment!

Now that you have the gem, you must quickly find the dwarf tribe. This is not difficult. The residences of dwarves are relatively public. Players will definitely need dwarf craftsmen to build their own cities, and some players who like auxiliary professions are dwarves themselves, so everyone knows where dwarves live. The only troublesome thing is that dwarves live there. There is no teleportation array in the Artisan City, so you must first go to a relatively nearby city and then walk there!

In my impression, there seems to be a player city called Guixiao, which is relatively close to the City of Craftsmen! That player just took a fancy to the fact that there is no teleportation array in the City of Craftsmen, and a large number of players need to go to the City of Craftsmen to find craftsmen. If they build the city there, they can receive Dabi's entry fee! (There is no entry fee for system cities)

I directly opened the teleportation ring, targeting Guixi. When I walked out of the ghostly teleportation array, I was a little dumbfounded. The density of players around me was even worse than that of the main cities of the three major systems. When I looked around, the streets were full of people! As soon as I walked out of the teleportation array, I was surrounded by people. I took a step back out of habit and put my hand on the hilt of the sword, ready to take action at any time.

A guy who just barely had the word "traitor" written on his face came closer with a "lewd" smile on his face. "Brother, don't be nervous, we don't mean any harm!"

"Then why are you surrounding me?" Although the movements have not changed, I am basically sure that they are not going to attack me, because almost none of these people are soldiers. Logically speaking, the possibility of a mage robbing is not high. What's more, there are some people inside who are still holding books in their hands. I haven't heard of anyone using books to rob them!

It was the 'crooked' businessman who spoke as a representative: "We are the city construction guide here. It looks like you are a big customer who wants to build the city. We want to see if you need our services!"

"Service?" I took my hand off the hilt of the sword. "What services do you provide?"

"It depends on what services you need!" The 'profitable' businessman is indeed a 'profitable' businessman, and he speaks with a level of skill!

"I need a lot of things, I just don't know what you can do!"

Perhaps because he saw that I was indeed a potential customer, this guy said politely to me: "If you really want to build a city, come with me! I will take you to the reception room to discuss it in detail!"

"Okay! You lead the way!"

The crooked merchant explained a few words to the little crooked merchants next to him and then took me towards the city. The reception room he was talking about was a shop. Although it said "City Alliance Office" on the door, The interior is decorated like a teahouse! Besides us, there were several pairs of players sitting at several tables, discussing something. Only then did I notice that these people were all wearing work clothes from some office. Although their clothes were slightly different, they were all roughly the same. I guess the different looks were just a matter of grade! I don’t know what level the receptionist I’m talking about is, but judging from the way he just ordered those people to do things outside the teleportation point, his level should be not low!

"Please sit down!" The profiteer asked me to sit down, and a young man next to me immediately brought me two cups of tea. After taking a sip of tea, the traitor took out a huge encyclopedia-like book from behind. The guys outside just now seemed to have a copy in their hands. Could this be their tool? He put the book on the table and turned it in one direction and pushed it in front of me. "This is a catalog. You can refer to this catalog to see what services you need. It has detailed descriptions and fees!"

I was surprised when I opened this catalog without a cover. There were several simple categories written on the first page. The categories include: new cities, personal house construction, guild station upgrades, city station upgrades, house renovations, and other craftsman needs, a total of six options. After looking at this preliminary catalog, I already have a rough idea of ​​what they do! This person is the contractor, who specializes in contracting the business of craftsmen!

"I want to build a city!"

"Really? Are you sure?" The profiteer looked a little unconvinced when he heard my words.

"What are you doing? Do you doubt that I can build it?"

"Uh! No, no! I'm so excited! Building a city is a big project, and I was so excited at the moment! Since you are building a city, please follow me to the VIP room on the second floor!"

I picked up the catalog and followed him to the second floor. The decoration here was much more gorgeous than the first floor. VIPs were indeed more expensive! We sat down in a single room on the second floor, and the waiter quickly served drinks, but the appearance was not the one on the first floor, so I guess it is more expensive!

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Yang Kun, the general manager of the customer service department of this company. What is your name?"

"Purple sun!"

"Okay, Mr. Ziri. Do you need to outsource or recruit workers?"

"Outsourcing? What's the difference between outsourcing and recruiting?" Terms will appear in various industries after working for a long time. Firstly, people in the industry can understand it and it is easy to speak. Secondly, it can be convenient for customers!

"Outsourcing is more worry-free. You tell me the city's funding level, location, scale, style and delivery time, and then you can leave it alone and just wait for the time to come for acceptance! If you entrust recruitment, it will be more troublesome! All the details You have to personally specify the arrangements, I am only responsible for the hiring and allocation of craftsmen."

"Let's recruit workers! My city is more responsible, and it may not be convenient for you to build it!"

"That's right! It's better to outsource recruitment, so that you can build a city that is more in line with your own preferences! So what is the name of the city you want to build? How big is it?" Yang Kun took out a formatted form. Some basic things had been written on it, and he took out a pen to fill it in.

"The name is Isengard."

"Ai... Xing... Ge! Yeah! Not a bad name!" He listened and memorized it. "What about city size?"

"Are you talking about the area?"

"kindness!"

"Are you talking about the building area or the practical area? Essinger has an underground city!" It's hard to calculate the city's layered area!

"I need the building area, but if you need a dungeon, you need the detailed area of ​​each floor!"

"Wait a minute, I'll do the math!" Yang Kun nodded, then waited for me to report the numbers with a pen. I calculated for a while and said: "The city is divided into six layers. The underground part is an inverted model of the above-ground part. The three above-ground layers are 100 square kilometers, the second layer is 841 square kilometers, the first layer is 7569 square kilometers, and the six layers total 170 square kilometers!" With a bang, Yang Kun overturned the bench. I quickly stood up: "Are you okay?"

"It's okay! It's okay!" Yang Kun crawled out from under the table. "Are you kidding me? How can you defend such a big city? The largest guild now only has a million people. If you put it in your city, you won't be able to find it!"

"Defense is my business, you just have to build it for me!"

"Okay! The customer is God!" This Yang Kun is a 'crooked' businessman, so good at shaping the situation! After quickly filling in the area, Yang Kun continued: "How to arrange the city wall? How high should it be built? What materials should be used? Is it necessary to dig a moat?"

"The city wall has been completely completed, only a few gates are left. We don't need the moat. The city is too big, and the project of building the moat is too huge!" Actually, I was afraid that he would open his mouth! Think about it! The city wall of Essinger is so long that digging a moat is no different from digging the Grand Canal. The cost of the project must be sky-high!

"That's right, if you really want me to help you dig a canal-like moat, I really have no choice! You know, we middlemen can't get much, and the NPC dwarfs set up by the system charge very high prices! By the way, speaking of dwarves, I would like to ask whether you want to hire dwarves, humans or elf craftsmen?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Of course! There are more human craftsmen, the efficiency is average, the technology is average, but the labor is cheap. If you don't have any special requirements for the city, hiring human craftsmen is a more common and cost-effective method. The artistry of the elves 'It's better. The cities they build will be very elegant and beautiful, with a romantic style. Of course, they are more expensive than humans! If you need to build a financial center or cultural center, it is best to choose elven craftsmen. They can make Your city becomes a palace of art. As for the dwarves, it's more troublesome! Dwarves have a weird personality. They don't accept all jobs, and their asking prices are exaggerated. The most important thing is that dwarves have no aesthetic concerns. Although they The works are usually relatively sturdy and durable and have clever designs, but they are all boxy in appearance. Of course, if you have a special hobby and like to build your city like a fortress, the aesthetics of the dwarves will definitely suit you. However, my clients usually ask some humans to be responsible for infrastructure construction, and then ask elves to deal with structural and style issues. This can well coordinate the cost of the city with its aesthetics!"

It seemed that Yang Kun was planning to continue talking, so I stopped him. "I hope to hire a large number of dwarves and a small number of elves. The number of elven craftsmen should not exceed 3,000, and the rest must be dwarves. What I am building is a seaside fortress. It doesn't matter whether it is beautiful or not, solidity is the first priority!"

"But……!"

"It's nothing but, I'll pay you to find someone, it's that simple!"

After thinking for a moment, Yang Kun seemed to have made a decision. He raised his head and said, "Okay! I'll contact the dwarf craftsmen, but I declare in advance that I will not be responsible if they don't come!"

"I'll go with you, I guarantee they will come!"

"Okay then! The craftsman has solved the problem, what should we do if we still have the materials?"

"Material?"

"Yes, it is building materials, mainly stone and wood, and there are also a lot of other things such as ceramics, jade, various metals, crystals and the like! Have you prepared in advance? Most of my customers have stocked up in advance For many things and materials, you usually only need to buy a small amount!”

"I don't know. The city building plan was rushed and not many things were prepared. Can you buy cheap materials?"

"I'm afraid this is more troublesome! The materials in the system store are horribly expensive. If you go there to buy them, the material cost alone can bankrupt a medium-sized company! But players usually don't have too many materials in their hands, and large-scale acquisitions may be It takes a lot of time, and the scale of your city seems a bit exaggerated. Even if the city wall, which requires the most materials, has been built, the remaining things still require more than 100 times the materials of other cities. Such a large amount of acquisitions must be very troublesome. And it’s not cost-effective! The final requirement is that building materials cannot be put into the storage space. Except for people with craftsman skills who can carry a little bit, other players cannot transport these things. We acquire so many things at one time, even if we have collected them all, Transportation costs can also kill people! So I suggest you entrust us to hire some carpenters and masons for you, and we will mine the raw materials nearby. The greater the demand, the lower the cost of hiring someone to mine, and mining nearby can save a lot of money. Shipping costs like numbers!”

"This principle is good. There is a forest next to Essinger. There is as much wood as you need, and stones are easy to find. I have a friend who also knows about this. She went to see it and said that there are a lot of crystalline rocks buried underground there. Ai The entire city wall of Singer is carved out of a single piece of crystalline rock!" Bang, Yang Kun fell under the table again. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, it's okay!" Yang Kun got up from the ground again. "Are you sure your friend is talking about crystalline rock?"

"Sure! What to do?"

Yang Kun took out a gray thing from his arms and brought it to me. "Is that so?"

"Yes, it's this kind of thing. You don't know, this thing is so hard and heavy! But why are you bringing a stone with you?"

Yang Kun didn't answer me directly but took out many strange stones from his arms. "This is a sample. You should show it to customers when they choose stones, right?"

"What is this?" I picked up a red stone. It looked like a ruby, but it was not transparent, but had a very good luster.

"Oh! This is Star Rock. This thing has very good magic resistance properties. Among the building materials except magic silver, it has the highest magic defense! Your Essinger city wall is made of crystalline rock. Physical The defense is very high, but the magic defense is not good! But it is too expensive to completely use magic silver to create a magic reflection layer outside the city wall. You might as well buy some of these things and grind them into powder together with the crystalline rock to make paint and paint it on the wall. How's it going outside?"

"No, I have my own way to defend against magic." The two scrolls I took out from the Gate of Truth last time are still with me! Essinger's city wall has been crystallized, so the crystallization scroll is of no use, but the magic resistance scroll is very useful. As long as you use it on Essinger's city wall, you can get a city wall with magic resistance!

Yang Kun collected everything on the table, and then said: "Okay, that's all the registration content, let's talk about the price now. Because you chose the entrusted recruitment method, you are responsible for the specific costs. , our company only charges you an acceptance fee of 500 crystal coins. Also, according to the rules, you need to take 5% of the money I save you by using my bargaining skills when purchasing materials and hiring NPC craftsmen as my rebate! "

The acceptance fee of 500 crystal coins is a little expensive, but it's acceptable. There is nothing wrong with helping with the counter-offer and getting a kickback. The more he saves me, the more he makes! "Okay, deal!"

The system contract is very simple. Yang Kun opened the contract directly for me to see and applied for signature. I confirmed it directly, and then the contract came into effect. After the contract came into effect, my money was automatically deducted, but the money did not go to their hands immediately. It was only temporarily kept by the system. The other party can get the money when the contract ends. If the contract is not completed, the money will still be there. Returned to me.

After I confirmed the contract, Yang Kun immediately said with a smile on his face: "Shall I take you to the City of Craftsmen to find craftsmen now?"

"Yes!" I followed Yang Kun and left Guixi and headed towards the nearby Craftsman City.

When I was bored on the road, I started to talk to Yang Kun: "It's 3 o'clock in the morning! You are still working? Don't you usually sleep?"

"I'm specifically responsible for the night shift! The gaming industry is different from ordinary work. Bugs like to crawl up in the middle of the night. We have no choice if we want to increase business!"

"When I first arrived at Guixiao, I felt that there were a lot of people here. Aren't they all here to see the craftsmen?"

Yang Kun shook his head and said: "That's not entirely true. There is a reason why there are so many people here. The City of Craftsmen is indeed one of the reasons. Another reason is that there is a huge mine nearby. Many players who practice skills come here to mine. In addition to burning skills, you can also make some extra money to supplement the leveling expenses!" He suddenly stopped and said: "Here we are!"

"Where is it?" I didn't see the shadow of the city at all.

"There!" Following Yang Kun's finger, I saw the entrance to a cave.

I look at him. "You mean that cave?"

He also looked at me curiously. "You don't know, do you?"

"what do you know?"

"The City of Craftsmen is a semi-underground city. The elves live on the periphery of the city, the humans live in the center of the city, and the dwarves are underground. The above-ground part is actually just the residential area for humans and elves. The real main body of the City of Craftsmen is still underground. Yes. To put it bluntly, the city of craftsmen is a network of dwarf mines!"

"I'm so dizzy, I thought the City of Craftsmen was a city!"

"It is indeed a city, but it is underground and the terrain is a bit complicated! Come on, let's go in! Follow me, it's easy to get lost in the tunnels here!"

I have heard that the roads in the City of Craftsmen are very complicated. At that time, I was still wondering why the roads in the city were so complicated. It turns out that the City of Craftsmen is actually a city composed of a huge group of underground mines. No wonder it is so complicated.

After following Yang Kun into the mine tunnel, you can start to see dwarves. These short guys are constantly digging ore in the mine tunnel, and there are some humans digging next to them. Although there are many people, the mine is very spacious, so they dig it without any impact on traffic.

Although there are many forks in the mine road, it is not very long, and we quickly entered the city. This city that was transformed from mining to reconstruction is really huge and magnificent! The surrounding buildings are obviously the work of dwarves. Each one looks as solemn as a court. There are no soft curves in any of the buildings, only hard edges and corners! However, the aesthetics of the dwarves appeal to my taste. I like this kind of solemn structure. I always thought that soft designs are only suitable for bedrooms!

When I entered the city, I felt that there were a lot more dwarves, and there were also many elves traveling around here. Most elves are players, while dwarves are basically NPCs. Very few players are willing to make themselves that tall! In comparison, elves with tall figures and soft faces are more popular, especially among young girls. Almost a quarter of female players are from the elves. It is conceivable that girls love elves. Already?

Just as I was thinking about it, I saw a fiery elf appear in front of me, and there was actually a familiar demon floating on her head that was definitely not suitable for an elf! Although it is a little devil, it is really strange to be led by an elf!

"Are you looking for craftsmen?" the female elf said to us first.

"Well! May I ask what you do? Are you a carpenter?"

"no!"

"So you build a house?" It is unlikely that a girl will become a miner, but there is still a possibility of building a house.

She still shook her head: "It's not my responsibility to build the house, I only have to demolish it!"

"Demolish?" Yang Kun and I were stunned at the same time. Are there any craftsmen who are responsible for demolishing houses?

"I'm a demolition expert. Come to me for mining, digging mountains, or demolishing illegal buildings. Is there any work you can do to take care of me? I've been idle for several days, and I don't even have enough money to buy medicine for leveling up!"

Demolition expert? There is such a profession! But thinking about it on the other hand, it’s not surprising. Gunpowder and cannons have come out, so there’s no reason why we can’t have a career in blasting! But aren’t elves a peace-loving and nature-loving race? There actually appeared an elf with a little devil who specialized in explosives, and he was also a beautiful woman!

"Hello, my name is Ziri. We really need people like you, and the workload is relatively heavy. I wonder if you have any colleagues?"

"Do you want it? Great!" A smile immediately appeared on her face. "But I'm a hidden professional, and I'm the only one who has explosive skills! But don't worry, I like explosions the most, no matter how many things there are, I can dismantle them! Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you my name, my name is Crystal Chocolate.”

This violent woman actually has such a cute name. I think her name should be nitroglycerin (the main component of liquid explosives, which itself is extremely unstable and has huge explosive power), which is more appropriate! "How do you calculate your wages?" When negotiating the price with the players, the counteroffering skill is not used, so I didn't ask Yang Kun to come forward and asked the price myself!

"You have to tell me first how long you will hire me and what kind of work you will do before I can decide on the fees!" Although she seems careless, she is actually very smart!

"My city needs to be rebuilt. There are many ruins of buildings in the city that need to be cleared away. Many houses are only half standing. I need you to blow them all down so that I can build new ones! And I plan to collect stones myself. , I need you to help me blow up mountains and open up rocks! The specific working hours are not necessarily certain, but my city is very big, and you can’t finish it in three to five days!"

"That's a long-term job. How about I charge you 100 crystal coins a day?"

"100 crystal coins?"

I thought about it for a moment, and Crystal Chocolate immediately said: "If not, 90 crystal coins a day is fine!"

100 crystal coins a day is indeed a high salary, but she is the only blasting expert, so getting so much is not much. Without her, I would spend more money to find miners, and I may not be as fast as her! "Do you have a guild?" This rare profession should be roped in, and she is also an explosives expert. There will be a siege of the city soon. It would be good to rope her in to help me lay some mines outside the city. ah!

"You want to accept me as a member?" She was obviously a little surprised.

"Do you want to?"

"I...!" She hesitated for a moment, and then she asked me to join the club, but there were conditions.

"Say!" I am also a rich man now, and I speak loudly!

"First, I want you to give me a piece of land of more than 100 square meters in the city. I want to build my own laboratory!"

"No problem! I'll give you a 1,000-square-meter underground experimental site!" I'm worried that Essinger's land is too big!

"Really!" She didn't expect me to be so generous. Yang Kun didn't care at all. He knew the area of ​​​​Isinger, and such a large land could not be used at all!

"Do you have any other requests?"

"I don't need to charge for this job, but you have to cover my leveling expenses in the future!"

"Okay!" It won't cost much to level up alone, even if you rely solely on medicine! As for equipment, I have so much that I don’t have to spend any money!

Although I planned well, unfortunately, my wishful thinking went wrong this time! I don't know much about how to level up Crystal Chocolate. I thought that I just need to pay enough for the medicine. In fact, the medicine she uses for leveling is much more expensive than I thought! What she wants is not red medicine but...